Gas is the new positive social media app for teens, designed to disrupt the industry
A new app called Gas is dominating social markets, and its core focus is positivity.
Launched in August 2022, Gas has amassed millions of users in the highly sought after teenage market.
Currently only available in a limited number of states across the USA, Gas requests users to respond to multiple choice-style questions about fellow students in their school.
This is often in classic year book style categories such as “the most beautiful person you have ever met”.
Despite its limited availability, Gas has become the most downloaded free iPhone app and the top social-networking download in the Apple App Store.
How is it different?
The premise of the social network is its focus on encouraging users to compliment (or “gas up”) their classmates. They can do this by anonymously voting for them in the various categories presented on the app.
Users receiving the compliments are alerted with notifications, also known as flames. They are only provided with the grade and gender of the students voting for them.
Gas is a stark contrast to the many other mainstream platforms currently facing accusations of promoting toxic content.
2021 saw Meta whistle blower, Frances Haugen, report to the U.S. Senate ‘The Facebook Files’. At the time, Haugen said Meta knew that they were “leading young users to anorexia content”.
In true Instagram style, the platform is already working on a BeReal clone feature in response to the new “authentic” platform’s rise in popularity.
One would assume it’s only a matter of time before it copies Gas as well.
Hopefully the new wave of popularity in more positive social media platforms such as Gas and BeReal will be a welcome trend among the existing platforms.
Perhaps they will promote greater positivity in terms of content and interactions for users.
